The present invention relates to data processing by digital computer, and more particularly to shaping amplitude contours of musical notes.
In music, musical notes, i.e., tones, may be struck, like they are on a piano, giving a limited opportunity for changing an amplitude shape once a note has been struck by a piano hammer that strikes the strings. A similar limitation applies to notes plucked on a harpsichord or struck on percussive instruments. Greater expressiveness on a violin is achieved as the two arms and fingers are used to control one note at a time, which enables a note to rise and decay gradually, with near unlimited variability, giving rise to the possibility of great eloquence, as well as providing difficulty of control. The human voice, the best instrument of all, has this ability, but can only sing one note at a time.
All instruments that can shape a single tone as a function of time require, for a musical effect, that it be done with appropriate discrimination and control. Only then can the emotional quality and meaning of the music be realized. The shapes of notes are individually and differentially controlled. While this is not the only parameter that serves the expressive needs of music, it is one of the important ones. Small changes in shape of single notes of a melody, or of several notes, can alter the meaning of music. Moreover, the amplitude shapes of notes, varying individually, do so in a way to achieve musical meaning.